US, UN Threaten Security Council Action on N.Korea

Reuters via Yahoo ^ | 1/10/03

[Heartlander2]

Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday condemned North Korea's decision to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and said the matter would have to go to the U.N. Security Council.

The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said the Security Council would have to take up the withdrawal within weeks if diplomatic efforts did not resolve the crisis.

"It will ultimately have to go to the Security Council. When and through what process and what one would ask the Security Council to do at that time remains to be determined," Powell told reporters after talks with ElBaradei.

ElBaradei said: "What we are talking about is a matter of weeks. It's not an open-ended invitation for cooperation. If we do not see signs of cooperation on the part of the DPRK (North Korea) quite soon, then obviously we'll have to move to the Security Council."

"A country cannot just walk out without ramifications, because challenging the integrity of the non-proliferation regime is a matter than can affect international peace and security," he added.

[rintense]

I'm sick of NK. Let's get busy, boys!

[Mo1]

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[Destro]

North Korea to Colin: "I double dog dare you"

[mc10]

having seen the press conference...i felt a bit disturbed by the sense of urgency and even perhaps nervousness on the part of Powell and ELBaradei...Powell's voice broke at least two times...they, of course, know something they are not disclosing and it ain't good

[mc10]

addendum to above...does any1 else share the feelings which i expressed in my previous post #5 ?

[spokeshave]

Saw it on Fox...and the stalinist military parade...

Cold War Redux..

Hope it gets endless repeats...

Ram it down the throats of the rats

[Heartlander2]

I was not able to see the press conference. Can you elaborate on your observations?

[Principled]

"A country cannot just walk out without ramifications, because challenging the integrity of ...

So the UN wants to assert itself to avoid becoming irrelevant?

[struwwelpeter]

"Ok, who ordered the Kagogi with double-dog?"

[Magnum44]

The UN is getting an awful lot of opportunities to prove its 'relevance' lately.

[marshmallow]

Isolate them. The US does not need N. Korea but they sure need us. This is essentially a shakedown on the part of the communists. We are paying them to behave and not cause trouble. Now they want more goodies.

They need to be left to dangle in the breeze. No more oil, food or other resources from the capitalist running dogs. Let them enjoy the beauty of their communist utopia untainted by American lucre. Any slack should be picked up by their Chinese buddies.

[finnman69]

"We arrrrr not aflaid of the UN plicks!"

[AmericanInTokyo]

"Hans Plicks, too"

[altayann]

Yeah, that's a great way to avoiding dealing with a problem, boys. Make jokes about it, and hope it goes away.

Well, North Korea isn't a joke. There are over 100,000 American troops stationed in South Korea, and North Korea actually has nukes.

In fact, I'd start taking this very, very damn seriously if I were you. The North Koreans might not be able to hit the West Coast, but they probably could hit Hawaii.

[elfman2]

” Powell's voice broke at least two times...they, of course, know something they are not disclosing and it ain't good”

Something we don’t know? I think most people here are aware of the worst. I think there’s a narrow window now for doing something in NK. As I understand it, nuclear material’s everywhere, but plutonium (needed for bombs) is not. He’s probably more worried about NK manufacturing plutonium in a couple of months and then selling it than about any nominal increase in the nuclear weaponry NK possess.

Stakes are high, but NK’s not our responsibility, and we don’t want to make it so. I didn’t see the press conference. Powell’s probably threading a needle with every syllable, not wanting to say anything that would make us responsible for the outcome, but trying to promote the importance of immediate action.

North Korea is the perfect job for the UN right now. We need it contained until our forces devoted to Iraq can be redirected, and the UN needs a project to keep them out of our way. Letting the UN attempt to diffuse NK for a few months will go a long way toward distracting our opposition to military action.

[jbstrick]

If action started. Seoul would be a wasteland in a matter of hours.

NK has deployed over 10,000 artillery systems, an increase of almost 10 percent over the past 15 years, in addition to over 2,300 multiple rocket launchers. Most of the artillery is self-propelled and can support a rapidly moving operation.

Remember Seoul is about 30KM from the DMZ...

[dep]

i got the distinct impression, actually, that powell has a cold or is hoarse, perhaps from an extended shouting match.

dep

[dep]

actually, there are 32,000 u.s. soldiers in korea.

dep

[AmericanInTokyo]

OK. Whatever you say. Right. I'll start taking it serious from right now. Thanks.

Thank you again,